


Next Time

by starspangledlibra



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A cutesy oneshot to help me get over my writer's block, Fluff, Kei kind of sucks at it though, M/M, a bit of h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 23:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4156320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starspangledlibra/pseuds/starspangledlibra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first, he was confused, but once he flipped the lights on… he was even more confused.</p>
<p>After a bad night at work, Kei comes home to find that his apartment is already unlocked.  And that a not so scary intruder has chosen his kitchen floor for refuge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Time

This was literally the worst Saturday night that Kei had ever experienced.  And as someone who worked as a bartender at a local restaurant near the campus, that was saying a lot, because this job had caused him to have more shitty Saturday nights than he could count.  The role of the bartender was far too romanticized, in his opinion. For some reason, many people thought that working as a bartender was cool and fun because you got to hear a lot of interesting stories, it was a great way to get dates, and you got to drink on the job… These people had obviously never worked as a bartender before. Because all those “interesting” stories that he kept hearing every weekend were basically all the same, or at least they all ended in the same couple of ways: getting laid, setting something on fire, having the cops called on them, or some combination of the three.

As far as dating went, he did admit that he received a lot of offers from both men and women of all ages to go to dinner, or get coffee sometime.  In fact, in his 11 months of working as a bartender, he’d been asked out more than he previously had in his entire life. Perhaps he’d accept one of those offers one day, if the person asking him out looked like they would remember him in the morning, and didn’t look like their idea of a good time was spending a Saturday night at a bar with a bunch of loud, drunken college students.  So far, he had yet to find someone who fit that description at his place of employment.  No that he was surprised.  And in the mean time, he was perfectly fine with being single.  And as far as drinking on the job was concerned, well… it was necessary. After all, Kei had never been much of a drinker before he started working at that restaurant… 

_But oh how things have changed in just under a year_ , he thought to himself, as he slipped the keys back into his pocket.  He’d poured himself five shots tonight, and now his thoughts were fuzzier than he would have liked.  Driving home was out of the question, unless he wanted to risk getting pulled over. There was a good chance he wouldn’t pass the straight-line test at this point, and he knew it, so with a sigh, he started walking back home.  _Fuck my life…_

It wasn’t like he lived that far away; it was only about a 20-minute walk from the restaurant to his apartment complex, but it was really cold and windy outside, and that’s why he’d driven to work in the first place.  Now he not only had to walk home tonight, but he’d also have to walk back there in the morning to come pick up his car.  “Why did I drink so much?” he mumbled to himself.  “Oh right… because my job sucks.”

And tonight, it had sucked more than usual. Because during his shift this Saturday night, he’d broken two shot glasses, been yelled at for getting a drink order wrong, been slapped on the ass by someone who mistook him for their boyfriend, and been given the disgusting and demeaning task of cleaning up puke, not once, but twice from a customer who’d had a few too many.  What was worse, it was the _same_ customer both times.  The first time, thankfully, he’d had the foresight to take a step back.  The second time he hadn’t.  And then later, after cleaning all the puke off of the counter, off of the floor, and off of himself, he’d had to break up his first bar fight. Or tried to anyway. Both men were bigger and stronger than he was, so he had quickly been knocked out of the way. Into a table, probably. He was sure he’d hit the back of his head on something, because his vision had swam for a few minutes after that, and the next thing he knew, his boss was helping him up and telling him to take the rest of the night off, since his shift was almost over anyway. And he had been so ready to leave, that he just bolted out the door, not even bothering to grab his coat, hat, or gloves. 

So now, with freezing cold hands, a shirt he needed to burn, and a painful bump on the back of his head that may or may not need medical attention, Kei was more than ready to go home, change, and then crawl into bed and just not move for the next day or two.  He was so close to his goal now; there was just one more set of stairs that he needed to trudge up, and then soon he’d be in the safety and comfort of his own apartment, where he could try and forget that this night ever happened. Finally, he walked up to his apartment door, and after fumbling with his set of keys, he found the one that would let him inside.  But when he went to use the key, he noticed something strange: the door was already open.

It wasn’t wide open; it was only cracked open, but still, it was open nonetheless.  Which brought about the question of… Why was it open?  “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.  “Fuck fuck fuck fuck…”  He shoved his keys back into his pocket, leaning his head against the doorframe as he did so. “Did I really forget to lock the door?” he asked the empty hallway.  “Or even close it?”  With the way his luck was going tonight, that seemed like a very real possibility. Now he was afraid to go inside. What if he’d been robbed? Or worse, what if his cat had gotten out?  Oh god. She wouldn’t do well spending the night outside…

Tentatively, he took a few steps inside the apartment. “Miki?” he called. “Miki, are you in here? Please tell me you are because I think I’d rather have my apartment robbed than go out searching for a missing cat right now… Miki?”  Just then, he felt something soft brush up against his leg, and he looked down to find his tiny grey fluff ball of a cat welcoming him home.  He let out a sigh of relief, and shut and locked the door behind him. He smiled.  “There you are, Miki; that’s my good girl… Come here…” He bent down and scooped her up, but to his surprise, Miki squirmed out of his arms and jumped back down on the floor.  Then she meowed, and looked up at him with wide, expectant eyes.  Kei frowned.  “What is it?” he asked, as if he would get some sort of answer from his cat. It really had been a very long night. He needed to go to bed… But before he did, he needed to figure out what was up with his cat, who had run off into the kitchen, came back to nudge his leg again, then retreated into the kitchen once more.  What was she doing? What was she trying to tell him. 

“Miki?”  He followed his cat into the kitchen.  At first, he was confused, but once he flipped the lights on… he was even more confused. Because there, sitting on the kitchen floor- _HIS_ kitchen floor, was a boy about his age.  Or at least, that was what he guessed from the boy’s height and build.  He couldn’t see his face; the boy had it buried in his arms, and his knees were pulled tightly against his chest.  He still didn’t seem to be aware of Kei’s presence, so he briefly thought that he might have fallen asleep like that, but as he listened closer, he heard shaky breathing and quiet sniffles. 

_So he is awake,_ Kei decided _…But apparently too distracted by his own inner turmoil to notice that the owner of the apartment he’s broken into has returned… and is standing right in front of him… And has turned the light on… Fuck, what do I do now?_

For a moment, all Kei could do was watch this pathetic crying boy from the entryway, unsure of what to do with him. Clearly, he wasn’t a threat, but it wasn’t as if he knew the guy, so he couldn’t just leave him in here… Could he? He didn’t really feel like talking to anyone right now, let alone an unwanted guest. Maybe if he just ignored him and went to bed, the boy would be gone by the time he woke up… Though as tempting as this option was, he knew he probably wouldn’t sleep well knowing that there was a complete stranger in his kitchen.  He needed to get rid of this guy.  Fast.

“Umm…” he cleared his throat loudly. “Hello?”

The boy flinched at his voice and looked up at him with wide, bloodshot eyes. “Oh my god; I’m so sorry; do you live here- that’s a dumb question; of course you live here I’m so so sorry!! I just- I- I live on this floor, but I must have lost my key tonight when I went out, and I can’t get a new one made right now cause its really late, and so now I have to spend the night in the hallway, but it’s really cold out there and I wanted to warm up, and this door was unlocked, and, and… I’m really sorry!  I didn’t s-steal anything though; I promise; you can check, so p-please don’t call the police!  Please; I’m sorry!” The boy buried his head in his knees again and broke down into sobs. Kei stood there dumbfounded; now he really didn’t know what he was supposed to do.  He had no way of knowing whether this boy actually lived in this building.  He didn’t look familiar, but it wasn’t as if Kei had ever been the type to get to know his neighbors… But whether he was telling the truth or not, one thing was abundantly clear: he was having a rough night, and that was something that Kei could empathize with right now.

“Hey… it’s uhh… it’s all right?” he tried. Slowly, he approached the boy, trying to figure out a plan of action as he went.  He decided that getting him to stop crying would probably be a good place to start.  “I’m not going to call the cops, so please… calm down.” 

He must have heard this, because gradually, the sobs died down, and then boy peeked up at Kei, rubbing his watery eyes. “R-really?”

“Well… you didn’t take anything, right?" 

“Of course not!”

“Then no.  Even if I did want to call the cops… I’m honestly not sure how I’d explain this. So just- just don’t make a habit of this, ok?  I’ve got a vicious guard cat I can unleash on you if I catch you in here again.”  As if on cue, Miki let out a squeak and started nuzzling his ankle, causing the boy to giggle.  Kei felt his face grow hot; had he really just said something so embarrassing to a total stranger? For some reason, his brain had thought that’d be the right thing to say.  Apparently it was, if the soft giggling was any indication.  And even though he had the urge to crawl into a hole and die right about now, he had to admit that the giggling was kind of… cute?  No, that wasn’t it; it couldn’t be it…. Well, whatever it was, it was a welcome change from the crying. 

“T-thank you,” the boy said finally.

“Sure.”  Kei offered him an awkward smile, along with his hand.  “So, you wanna get off the floor now?”  The boy nodded and grabbed his hand so that Kei could help him up.

“So… umm… Thanks again… I guess I’ll just uhh… I should go then…  See you around.”

Tsukishima bit down on his lower lip. By the way the boy was swaying on his feet, it was obvious that he more than a little tipsy, and he just didn’t feel comfortable sending him out like that on his own. Plus, he was not dressed to spend the night outdoors, or even out in the hallway, and his nose was still dripping, and it was just too pitiful to ignore.  “Hold on,” he found himself saying.  “You can… sit for a minute if you want.  I’ll get you some water.  Maybe some tissues too?”

“Y-yes please.”

“Ok.  Go sit on that couch over there.  I’ll be out in a minute.  But first… here.” Kei grabbed the tissue box and pressed it into the boy’s hands, before shooing him out into the small living room. A few minutes later, he was leaving the kitchen with two ice waters, two plates, two forks, and the rest of the strawberry shortcake he’d bought earlier this week. And a bag of ice, because dammit, the bump on the back of his head still hurt, and he couldn’t find any pain pills right now.  He set all the stuff on the coffee table, and then took a seat on the far end of the couch. The boy eagerly grabbed one of the waters in front of him and started sipping on it.  He looked a little better than before, Kei noted. His eyes were still red and puffy, but he seemed a bit calmer, a bit more put together now that he had straightened his clothes and fixed his messy brown hair.  It was still messy, but at least it wasn’t in his face. Now he could see that underneath the tearstains, there were freckles on the boy’s cheeks.  And on his nose… and on his hands, now that he was looking for him.  They were everywhere… They were cute…

Kei shook his head at that thought; this was a complete stranger who had snuck into his home!  He should be trying to figure out where he came from, not where else on his body that he might have those cute freckles.  

“Umm… are you all right?” the boy asked, gesturing to the bag of ice.

“Huh?  Oh, yeah; I just- hit my head on something.  Rough night at work.”

“Oh… ok…”

After a few minutes of silently icing his head, Kei awkwardly cleared his throat again.  “So… who are you?” he asked. 

“Huh?” the boy squeaked.  “Oh!  Oh right; I’m sorry! M-my name’s Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi Tadashi.” 

“Yamaguchi, huh?  Ok.  I’m Tsukishima. Tsukishima Kei.” 

“N-nice to meet you,” Yamaguchi stammered. “Officially, I mean… I’ve sort of seen you around here… and on campus a few times, and I thought about saying hi, but I didn’t know your name, so… Oh god does that sound weird? I’m sorry, that does sound weird, but I’m not stalking you or anything; I think you’re just in the arts and science building a lot, like me… What’s your major?”

He stared blankly at Yamaguchi, blinking a few times. It was true; most of his classes were in that building.  And the department wasn’t exactly huge, so… how had he never noticed this boy? “Photography,” he said finally.  “What’s yours?”

“Creative writing.”

“Oh, that’s really cool, actually. I do a little writing myself, with song lyrics, so… Wait.”  He was getting seriously off topic here, because there were several more important things that he needed to know about Yamaguchi right now.  Such as…  “What are you doing here?”  

Yamaguchi’s face visibly fell at this question; his eyes dropped down to look at his feet.  “I umm… I already told you… I lost my key and can’t get into my apartment.”

“Well, yeah, but don’t you have a cell phone? Do you want to borrow mine, so you can figure out somewhere warmer to sleep tonight?  Maybe call a friend?”  As soon as he said friend, the freckled boy burst into tears again, and Kei knew that he had unwittingly just made a huge mistake. 

“I don’t h-have anyone I can c-call, cause I… I don’t have any friends.  Not anymore… Not after they… They- they’re all…” And with that, he buried his face in his hands as he continued to cry, and all the progress that they’d been making went right down the drain.

Kei was frozen, horrified.  There was a drunk, crying boy on his couch who had just admitted that he was all alone and had no friends, and he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing or saying to that.  He wasn’t qualified to handle this.  He wasn’t good at comforting people.  He wasn’t good with people.  But the boy's broken sobs made something in his chest ache, and since he was temporarily responsible for him at the moment, he felt the need to do something- anything. Other than ask what happened; he had a feeling that that wouldn’t go well. So instead, he set down the ice bag and scooted over towards the brunette, just close enough to lay a tentative hand on his shoulder.

"Hey… Don’t cry.  It’ll be ok… Having friends is kind of… overrated, don’t you think? I mean, people our age are pretty shitty in general- they’re stupid and reckless and thoughtless… You seem pretty nice though, so if you’re dead set on having a friend, well… No, never mind, I’m actually kind of an asshole, but… I do have a heated apartment.  And a couch that you can sleep on.  Blankets too, if you…”  He trailed off, as Yamaguchi pulled him into a hug, and suddenly he had a head resting on his shoulder.  And, to his own surprise, he found himself returning the hug, wrapping his arms around the freckled boy and rubbing soothing circles on his back.  Soon, the crying stopped once again, and he heard Yamaguchi mumble something into his shirt.  “What was that?”

Yamaguchi lifted his head a little. “Thank you… I mean, not for the speech- you really need to work on your pep talk material…”

“I know.  Sorry.”

“But what you’ve done for me tonight, when you don’t even know me… This is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time. So thank you, Tsukishima… Thank you so much.”  He pulled back from the hug and smiled, and Kei’s heart jumped in his chest. 

“Yeah, sure.  So, umm... I guess I should let you go to sleep.  And I should sleep.  Do you want any more blankets though?  That blanket there behind you, it’s pretty warm, but if you need more, I’ve got extra in my room.”

Yamaguchi shook his head.  “No, this is fine.  Thanks though.”

“Sure.  Well, goodnight then…”  He moved to get up but stopped when a hand clamped down on his arm.  And when he turned to look, he looked almost as surprised as he felt. 

“Ahh, w-wait!” he stammered.  “Umm… T-this is kind of embarrassing to ask, but uhh… would you mind if I turned on your TV?  I don’t really do well sleeping alone, so with the TV on, I can pretend there’s people in the room, and then it’s easier to fall asleep.” 

“Sure, you can turn it on,” Kei answered, slowly sinking back into the couch.  “In fact… I think I might actually stay and watch something for a little while… After everything that’s happened tonight, I could use something to wind down.

“Really?”

Truthfully, he felt like felt like he could fall asleep the second his head hit the pillows, but even he could recognize that Yamaguchi’s words translated to, _I don’t want to be alone right now.  I need company._ So instead of the truth, he just nodded and pulled the blanket down off the back of the couch, spreading it over both of their laps.  Then he turned on the TV and flipped it to a random channel.  “So, what do you want to watch?”

“Anything’s fine, really…  Yeah, this is fine… Hey, Tsukishima?”

“Yeah?”

Thanks again.” 

“You know, you don’t have to keep thanking me… Any halfway decent person would have done the same thing.”

“Well, maybe, but… Let me make it up to you. Please?”

“For the record, you don’t have to, but theoretically, if I did let you make it up to me, how would you go about doing that?”

“I don’t know… I guess I could start by buying you coffee tomorrow.  And maybe some breakfast? You know… after I resolve the whole locked out of my apartment thing.”

“Coffee, huh?”  Kei smiled.  “I guess that could be nice… But actually now that I think about it, to fully make it up to me, there’s one more thing you need to do for me.  Two more things, really.” 

“Umm… of course; anything… What are they?”

“The next time you come over to my apartment,” he said calmly. “Make sure I’m here.”

“Oh… ok… And the other thing?”

Kei felt his face grow hot once more, just thinking about what he was going to say.  He clasped his hands together under the blanket and turned away. “Isn’t that obvious? Make sure there is a next time.”

“Ohh… Oh.”  Yamaguchi didn’t say anything after that, but then again, he didn’t need to; when he reached over and grabbed Kei’s hand, that was all the answer he needed to give.  There would most definitely be a next time. 

**Author's Note:**

> (Based off a prompt I found on http://onetruepairingideas.tumblr.com/
> 
> “wtf you’re not my roommate, how did you get in here? oh sHIT you’re really drunk aND NOW YOU’RE CRYING OKay okay it’s okay shhhh, you can stay here i guess??” au )
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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